Class and Education

• Bourdieu: the role of economic capital in education


  Wealthy families pay for private education or additional tutoring
• Bourdieu: the role of cultural capital in education


  Having a stimulating home environment helps you gain extra knowledge which means you are in a good position at school
• Bourdieu: the role of social capital in education


  Parents may know how to help gain admission to the best schools

  
  

  Private schools bring connections
• Bourdieu: the role of symbolical capital in education


  Status could help with admission to private or selective schools
• AO2: Evans (2007) - Middle class mothers


  Used their cultural capital to give their children a head start at school, usually having high-level qualifications themselves, and would practise phonics and counting
• AO2: Ball, Bowe and Gewirtz - Privileged-skilled choosers


  Parents who used their cultural and economic capital to give their children a head start, such as researching league tables and their curriculums
• AO2: Ball, Bowe and Gewirtz - Disconnected-local choosers


  Parents who lack cultural and economic capital, such as the ability to research/afford the best schools, restricting their choices
• AO2: Webber and Butler (2007)


  Researched 1 million children in England and found that the factor with the most impact on educational achievement was the neighbourhood of pupils
• AO3: Strengths of cultural capital


  - Focuses on why the M/C are at an advantage rather than why the W/C are at a disadvantage, showing how the education system reproduces inequalities
• AO3: Weaknesses of cultural capital


  - Fails to recognise the role of the school in reinforcing class differences e.g. how different groups of pupils are labelled once they are in school

  - Bourdieu mostly emphasises cultural capital so underestimates the significance of economic capital which has large influence
• Setting


  Pupils grouped together for different subjects e.g. set 1 for English and set 3 for maths
• Streaming


  Students placed in the same ability group for all subjects e.g. top stream
• AO2: Gillborn and Youdell - Rationing Education study


  Researched two London secondary schools and found that W/C were more likely to be placed in lower sets and lower-tier exams, due to being seen as disruptive and lacking parental support
• AO2: Gillborn and Youdell - Educational Triage


  Schools operate a 'triage' system based on the perceived ability of the students:

  
  

  - Borderline students who could get 5 good GCSEs but need help to do so are prioritised

  
  

  - More able students who are likely to achieve 5 good GCSEs anyways are dealt with as necessary

  
  

  - Hopeless cases are written off
• AO2: A-C Economy


  - Marketisation system creates pressure for schools to perform

  - Schools are forced to focus on pupils who will achieve 5 A-C grades

  - League tables encourage competition in schools, forcing them to put all their effort into improving their performances to place high on those league tables

  - Triages are created to prioritise students who are on track to get high grades
• AO3: Gillborn and Youdell

  - A useful study to show how the macro (marketisation policy) and micro (teacher labelling) aspects of education work together to disadvantage W/C (and black) students

  - Overlooks the introduction of recent policies designed to close the attainment gap between advantaged and disadvantaged pupils e.g. Pupil Premium
• Lacey (1970): differentiation and polarisation


  Differentiation - teachers categorising pupils according to how they perceive their ability, attitude or behaviour e.g. being placed in the top set

  
  

  Polarisation - the process in which pupils respond to being set or streamed by moving towards one of two opposite 'poles' or extremes i.e. pro or anti-school subcultures
• Becker: Ideal pupil


  Teachers judged pupils according to how closely they fitted an image of the 'ideal pupil', typically seen as white and middle class
• Self-fulfilling prophecy


  Your class is likely to affect how you are labelled because W/C pupils do not fit the ideal pupil. Many end up conforming to their self-fulfilling prophecy which results in a deterioration of achievement and focus in school.

  
  

  However positively labelled students tend to do better in school (mostly M/C).
• AO3: Labelling theory


  - Deterministic: assumes that pupils will always live up to their labels

  - Fuller's study showed that a group of black W/C girls labelled as potential failures responded by working hard at home to achieve success
• Ball (1981) - Beachside Comprehensive study


  - Found that more working class students were placed in middle or bottom bands

  - By year 9 the school developed a pro-school culture in the top band but anti-school in the bottom

  - W/C students ended up finishing with less qualifications
• Mac an Ghaill (1994) - Range of working class male subcultures


  - New Enterprisers: typically W/C, rejected the traditional curriculum but were motivated to study subjects which helped them to achieve upward mobility e.g. business and computing

  
  

  - Academic achievers: W/C in the top sets, desired upward mobility by studying traditional core subjects e.g. English and maths, extremely positive about school

  
  

  - Macho 'lads': W/C students hostile to school and its values. Felt school was unsuitable for 'real men'.
• Willis (1977) - Learning to Labour


  Working class students who aspired to be factory workers started resenting school and messed around in class. They despised middle class students who obeyed the rules and studied hard.
• Ward (2015) - Boiz and the Geeks


  The Boiz lived in former coal towns in South Wales and were anti-school with macho attitudes e.g. being disruptive. Many stayed in school due to lack of W/C jobs, however some went to university.

  
  

  The Geeks rejected traditional male working class culture, aspired to get M/C professions and achieved top grades in hopes of escaping Welsh valleys.
• Jackson (2006) - Lads and Ladettes


  Found that 'laddish' subcultures existed across gender and class lines, formed as a response to pressure to succeed and a desire to be popular

  
  

  Refused to complete schoolwork, instead choosing to deviate and hang out with friend groups
• Hyman and Sugarman - Subcultural values of the working class


  - Immediate gratification

  - Fatalism

  - Present time orientation

  - Collectivism
• Hyman and Sugarman - Subcultural values of the middle class


  - Deferred gratification

  - Optimism

  - Future orientation

  - Individualism
• Internal factors for class differences in educational achievement


  - Teacher labelling

  - Subcultures/identities

  - Setting and streaming
• External factors for class differences in educational achievement


  - Speech codes

  - Parents' educational background

  - Housing